Tesla spells out why markets are failing battery storage, big and small – Soon enough, we’ll look at powergrids that act this way as archaic. Limiting to society. “However, the true value of this rapid response is not fully recognised. The fastest contingency FCAS market is six seconds, while the Tesla Powerpack response time is <200ms (milliseconds).” It wants to see a market for fast frequency response that recognises the value of batteries (and presumably other inverter-based technologies) to fill that void, in much the same way that settlement periods are being reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Here’s the biggest part of this equation – when an instantaneous power source acts to smooth out power grid imbalances, versus waiting 6 seconds, you can actually build 90% less of these specialized peaker plants. This hardware – energy storage with fast acting batteries – has just ended an entire market worth tens of billions.

SUMR wind project recognized for innovative wind turbine design – The group designed specialized blades with a segmented structure. The new model enables them to adjust to changing wind speeds and directions, maximizing the amount of energy captured. The team was inspired by palm trees, which are flexible and lightweight. “They can withstand hurricanes, and we were trying to solve the problem that as wind turbines become larger and larger. Most wind turbines you can’t allow for bending because then they will bend back and hit the tower,” Noyes said. “But what we did is we went downwind, which allows for bending, because the rotors are behind the tower.” Without the need for a rigid structure, the project can reduce the weight of the blade material, further cutting the cost of production and of energy. The demonstration blades will be tested throughout the summer, and if all goes well, Loth and his associates intend to build a wind turbine taller than the Eiffel Tower. They predict this 50-megawatt model will reduce the cost of energy by 50 percent by 2025. Wow! Segmented turbine blade – that helps moving it in addition to giving flexibility. Bendable, able to withstand hurricanes, and designed with the goal of being larger by 5X than the biggest turbines just barely squeaking out into the world today. And this guy suggests building by 2025? Wow!

U.S. intel chief deviates from Trump denial, warns about climate change, potential for ‘upheaval’ – “Extreme weather events in a warmer world have the potential for greater impacts and can compound with other drivers to raise the risk of humanitarian disasters, conflict, water and food shortages, population migration, labor shortfalls, price shocks and power outages,” said Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence. There is plenty of work done in the field of political science and economics (what I studied in school) that suggests a causative (not correlative) relationship between societal upheavel and food prices. Our species has evolved in a structure of significant calm periods, with occasional chaos (warfare). The further back in time, probably meant more chaos…nonetheless – it involved significant amounts of calm in between to heal, reproduce and live. Global warming and climate complexity will bring about regular weather events that will drive reactions from the population. There will be, as there always has been, blood.

Massachusetts Ocean Grid project gets FERC green light – The project envisages two 1,000-MW HVDC transmission lines and two 1,000-MW offshore platforms sited near offshore wind lease blocks identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). ADP, created last year by Massachusetts-based Anbaric and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, expects the first leg of the project to be in place by December 2021. Full completion is targeted by 2025. This is pretty cool to watch. People I know will end up working on these projects. I’ll finish this column just before 9 am, take a short walk with my coffee from the New Bedford Green Bean, and I’ll see the blades sitting shore side. I’m a bit of a fanboy when it comes to seeing and touching hardware. It’s another feeling.

On the tweet below – There’s something different about being able to make your own energy.